Features

How I Made It: Paul Sulyok Founder of Green Man Gaming

Paul Sulyok’s company has sales of £13m and he plans to float it in two years (Charlie JH Round-Turner)

FOR former army officer Paul Sulyok, it was third time lucky. His first two ventures failed to take off but by the time he launched Green Man Gaming, he was confident he had learnt from his mistakes.

“I realised it was important to take outside investment regardless of whether the business was making money or there was cash in the bank,” said Sulyok, whose site lets users buy and trade video games.

Before launching the website in 2010, he raised £125,000 from 12 angel investors, and by March that year he had secured an undisclosed sum from Eden Ventures, the London-based venture capital firm.

“If you don’t raise money, you can attract competitors to the market who are fully funded and at an advantage,” he said.

In four years Sulyok has built a business with 55 staff, making sales of more than £13m from its database of 4,500 games.